Liquid-feed regulator



E. R. DRAVER.

LIQUID FEED REGULATOR.

APPLxcATloN FILED DEc.1e.1916.

Patented Jan. 11,1921.

55 linedrawnthrough the.l axis ofthe japproxi UNITED N STATES EMIL R. DRAVER, F RICHMOND, INDIANA.

LIQUIDEFEED REGULATOR.l

Application filed December 16, 1916. Serial No. 137,432.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL R. Dnavnn, a citizen of the United-States, residing at i Richmond, in the county of Wayne Yand State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid-Feed Regulators; and I vdo hereby declare the.

following to -be afull, cleanand exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to feed devices especially adapted for feeding heavy iiuids, such as molasses in predetermined quantitieavariableat will; and to such ends, generally stated, the invention consist-'s of the novel devices and combinations of devices: hereinafter describedand defined in thex'claim. Y

Feed devices of this character, while adapted for many other purposes, are particularly adapted for use in feeding'heavy liquids, such as molasses, in predetermined quantities, and in connection with simi-lar feed devices, such, for example, as that disclosed and claimed in my companion applin cation S. N. 137,431 filed of even date herewith, and entitled Variable feed device; and where the said several machines are used to effect, for example, the blending of molasseswith certain groundcereals, such as used in stock foods, breakfast foods, and th like. f

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like. parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l isa plan view of the improved feeddevice, some parts being sectioned;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2--2 ofv Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is aslde elevation ,of the feed device; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the pocketed feed wheel or rotor.

The molasses or other material is fed through a casing 5 having an intake passage 6 leading from a supply pipe 7 and having a discharge port or passage 8 in its bottom. The casing 5 is also preferably formed with detachable vhead plates that have integral upwardly projecting bearing brackets 9. Here it may also be noted that the intake passage 6 is at one side and the discharge passage 8` at'theopposite side ofa vertical mately cylindrical interior of the casing 5.; Working within the interior of thesaid Specification of Letters Patent. n Patentedjan, 11,: 1921; i

casing 5 is a rotary feed'wheelvmadeup of a centrallylocated diskv 'l0 and radiating` partition anges V1l` onY the opposite sides thereof. The hub of this wheelis rigidly secured to a shaft l2 journaled in suitable bearings on the side plates of the casing 5.y v

The edges of the partition flanges l1 workv in very closevcontact with the inner faces of the head or side plates. of the casing 5 and the outer edge of the disk 10 works in very close engagement with cylindricalsurfaces 5a and 5b of said casing. The said cylindrical surface 5f.extends'betweenV points a and al on Fig. 2 and the cylindrical surfaces yb extend between points?) and b1 on said Fig.-

2. It will also be noted thatthe'point a is formed by an extension' ofthe upper wall of the casing. The partition flanges'll, on opposite sides of the diskfl() are staggered and form pockets 10a on each face of the said disk, and which pockets are also staggered so that the extremities of those on'y the one side are alined-.with theqintermediatevpoi tions ofthose on the other-side. This is done for an important purpose as will presently" appear. 4Also, it will be noted, by references particularly, to `Figs. 2 and 4, that the so called radial partitions ll'do not radiate truly from lthe axis `of the,y feed wheel and shaft l2, but' are tangential to the enlarged' hub of the said wheel, so that when the said wheel is rotated in the direction vof the arrow marked thereonfin Fig. 2, the said partition flanges reach adownturned vertical position before they are turned'v to a point directly below the axis of thewheel.

This increases the tendencies ofthe pockets to4 discharge their loadI on the downwardly moving delivery side of the wheel. By references toFig. ,2, it will-be noted that the segof the liquidis prevented, and only so much of the liquid is passed throughv the feed device as will be taken up by the pockets.

Under rotation of the said feed wheel ing,

-the. direction stated, thefpockets 10"'v will be filled with the liquid at the upper portion site side. There will, of course, be an over lapping of these discharges, but the maximum discharging action on the opposite sides will alternate and overlap in point of time in such a way that the effect is a substantially constant flow or feed of the liquid. This gives a very even supply of the liquid which is important where there is to be a blending thereof with other materials, or even with other liquids, in case several of these devices are used to blend liquids.

Attention is here called to the fact that the upper cylindrical cut-off surface 5a extends about evenly on opposite sides of the vertical plane of the axis of the feed wheel and that the discharge port 8 extends from the lower portion of the wheel up to the point a, which is at a level nearly as high as the top of the wheel. This permits the pockets of the wheel to commence their discharge as soon as their lower flanges have passed the shoulder, or point al. Otherwise stated, the pockets commence to empty themselves and their contents almost as soon as they are turned from their uppermost positions or positions in' which they are adapted to contain a maximum amount of liquid without overflowing. The result of this is that each pocket will continue its discharge through nearly one-half of its rotation, and hence, that several pockets will be discharge ing at the same time, but at different points, and to somewhat different extents, but with the result that the total flow of the molasses or other liquid will be approximately constant. It is, as stated, necessary that the cylindrical surfaces 5a and 5b be of greater circumferential extent, than a pocket'of the feed wheel, but advisably, they are of less extent, however, than the circumferential distance of the two pockets. The intake port 6 is also brought as high up as practicable, but is located considerably distant from the vertical plane of the axis of the wheel.

Of course, the rate of the feed of the liquid or material through the device will depend on the speed of rotation of the pocketed feed wheel, and hence an efficient variable speed device for use 1n connection therewith, is highly important. For this purpose I may advantageously use a variable speed device, such as that disclosed and claimed in m U. S. Application S. N. 679,859, filed February 26, 1912, and entitled Variable speed mechanism, and which, briefly described, is as follows:

Secured in one projecting end of the feed 14: are connected by links 16 to a crosshead 17 that is mounted to slide on a. rocker arin 18 `secured to a rock shaft 19 mounted to oscillate in the bearing brackets 9 of the casing. The rocker arm 18 is graduated to indicate the position of the crosehead and the said crosshead is arranged to be adjusted.y

longitudinally of said arm by' a screw rod 21 swiveled to a depending lug of said rocker arm. The rocker arm 18 is gently vibrated through a link 22 and a cam arm 23, which latterl is secured to a counter shaft 241 journaled in the said bracket 9. On one projecting end, the counter' shaft 24 is provided with a half clutch 25, with which is engageable a half clutch 26 of a pulley 27 that is primarily free to rotate and slide on the said shaft 24. A coiled spring 28 compressed between the half clutches 25 and 26 presses the pulley 27 away from the said half clutch 25 and tends to disengage the said half clutches, and thereby leave the pulley free for rotation. Said pulley, in practice, will usually be driven by a powerdriven belt, not shown.

Mounted to freely oscillate on the counter shaft 24,between the hub of the pulley 27 and a cam surface 9a and the adjacent bracket 9 is a cam lever 29. This cam lever 29 has a cam lug 30 which, in turn, onto the cam surface 9, forces thehalf clutch 26 into engagement with the half clutch 25 and causes the pulley 30 to constantly rotate the counter shaft 24. vWhen the lever 29 is turned to disengage its lug 30 from the cam surface 9a, the spring 28 will again disengage the said half clutches.

Obviously, when the counter shaft 24 is rotated at a constant speed, the speed at which the feed wheel will be rotated may be varied, at will, by adjustments of the crosshead 17 on the rocker arm 18. Also, it is evident that under the reverse driving actions of the two pawl equipped arms, the rotation of the said feed wheel will be substantially continuous at the rate to which it is set to move.

The engagement between the flanges and periphery of the feed wheel and the `segmental surfaces 5a and 5*" of the casing, should be approximately fluid-tight, by which I mean that it should be so close that the particular liquid to be fed therethrough will not flow past the said feed wheel. f course, if the device were designed to feed water, for example, the joints would have to be much closer than when it is desi ned to feed molasses or heavy liquid. For eeding molasses in ywarm condition, there should not be a clearance of more than lOOth'part of an inch. As the pockets pass the inner extremity of the segmental upper surface 5, they are opened up by the clearance between the same and the wall of the casing, so that the discharge of the liquid from the pocket immediately begins and continues until the pocket has passed beyond the lower extremity of the se mental surface 5b.

The term wheel as applied to the feed wheel, is used in a broad sense to include a rotary member or rotor.

What I claim is:

In a feed regulator, the combination with a casing having inlet and discharge pas sages, of a feed wheel working rotatively in said casing between said inlet and outlet passages and comprising a central disk and radiating pocket forming ribs integral therewith and on the opposite sides of said disk, the said ribs being of the same number and equally spaced on each side of the disk and the ribs on the one side of the disk being staggered in respect to the ribs on the opposite side of said disk, the said disk being set to run at the intermediate portion of said discharge passage, and the pockets formed between the ribs on the opposite sides of the disk being arranged to alternate in their discharging actions.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature in presence of two witnesses:

EMIL R. DRAVER.

Witnesses:

CLARA DEMAREST, BERNICE G. WHEELER. 

